Afrioil International, a petroleum import and export firm, plans to list on the Nairobi bourse’s growth enterprise market segment (GEMS) early next year. The company, which has been in operation for about two years now says it plans to tap into the stock market to expand its business.

The oil firm’s size of balance sheet—the total of assets or liabilities stands at Sh500 million. Dennis Makori, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer says part of this funding is from lenders. “We plan to list this company in the GEMS segment next year,” said Makori (pictured). The firm’s appetite to list follows introduction of a trading board on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) for small and medium enterprises ( SMEs) opening new funding opportunities for the growing pool of small and medium sized businesses. Small businesses not only find it difficult to access finance, but also have to deal with the higher cost of finance relative to the charges larger firms face.

Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000157321/sme-oil-marketer-plans-to-list-on-nairobi-bourse